Highlights
Citing weak traffic, ICSC-Goldman reports a 0.3 percent same-store sales decline in the September 29 week for a year-on-year rate that is down five tenths to plus 2.4 percent. Year-on-year growth in this report has slowed about a percentage point over the past four weeks, but ICSC-Goldman is upbeat and describes the trend as sustainable and a positive for the holiday shopping season.

Yet ICSC-Goldman does see significant year-on-year moderation for September sales as a whole, to plus 3.0 to 4.0 percent from August's very strong 6.0 percent. Note this forecast, which points to weakness for the government's ex-auto ex-gas reading, excludes drug stores where pharmacy sales are being skewed lower by a sweep of generic introductions. Chain stores will post their monthly results on Thursday morning. Later this morning at 8:55 a.m. ET, Redbook will post its weekly report.

Definition
This weekly measure of comparable store sales at major retail chains, published by the International Council of Shopping Centers, is related to the general merchandise portion of retail sales. It accounts for roughly 10 percent of total retail sales.
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